Several Hundred Gather at 16th & Broadway in Sacramento to Protest Wars in Middle East

It was the most diverse, controversial and one of the largest peace rallies at 16th & Broadway in Sacramento, since Steve and Virginia Pearcy started hosting such events at this location last year. Several hundred people gathered, waving and wearing the flags of several nations, displaying pictures of Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nasrallah and Lebanese and Israeli victims of the current conflict and displaying signs which mostly denounced Israel's killing of large numbers of civilians in Lebanon. In addition to the usual group of anti-war activists, participants included a large number of Lebanese-Americans, a small group of pro-Israel demonstrators, an anti-Zionist Jewish protester and a couple of right-wing, anti-Palestinian, pro-war demonstrators. Participants ranged in age from young children to those in their 80s.

The event was very lively, with a lot of thought-provoking conversations among participants, a few insults and heated exchanges between the pro-Israel group and the anti-Zionist Jew and between the right-wingers and several anti-war demonstrators. However, the event was completely non-violent despite the best efforts of one of the pro-war demonstrators who attempted to instigate a confrontation by circulating through the crowd with a "NUKE IRAN" sign and shouting insults at anti-war demonstrators in attendance.

A police officer driving by apparently witnessed this behavior and decided to pull over and observe what was happening. Soon, several police officers were standing not far from the northeast corner of the intersection, watching what was going on. Most of their attention seemed to be focused on the guy with the "NUKE IRAN" sign and the other right-wing demonstrator, who was dressed as a militant Palestinian suicide bomber. His costume included several apparently fake red sticks of TNT strapped around his torso. This caught the attention of the police, who at one point approached the man and asked to examine the red sticks, as the crowd cheered them on. After satisfying themselves to the theatrical nature of the sticks, they allowed the man to continue his First Amendment right to spew his message of intolerance to a completely unreceptive audience.

Passing motorists were mostly supportive, honking their horns and giving participants the peace sign as they drove by. The event continued until after nightfall.